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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

You’d think that we’d have had enough of variegated warps by now, but, no, no we haven’t.

We had a planned dye day back in 2010 for my Colour Study Group; at the time I had just acquired a vast amount of Ecru mercerized cotton from another Weaver’s de-stash. So when the two came together, the variegated dyeing just spontaneously happened! These cotton yarns have kicked about for almost two years and I was determined to use them. Thankfully, this wine cotton is the last of the batch that I wove!

This is both scarves together before washing ~ really, really different! The very nature of variegated yarn makes it hard for a pattern weaver like me to use. If you use it as weft, it may muddy the pattern to the point that you don’t see it. If you use it as warp in a complex weave structure the same result may occur. To my mind the best use of variegated yarn is in the warp with a very simple weave structure.

This is a 6 shaft, two block canvas weave pattern and for the first scarf I used 2/8 Tencel in Grey Mauve and treadled the pattern blocks about 3 inches long, alternating the blocks.

For the second scarf ~ well I went the the 2012 Island Retreat with my pal Susan at Thrums and my lovely daughter Ngaire wove this scarf off using 2/20 raw silk in Raspberry. The scarf above has been wet finished, but not ironed.....I have it sitting in a big pile on McSteamy(my steam press) waiting......

Ngaire used an all over pattern and created a highly textured scarf. The weft choice made all the difference to this scarf; it masks the warp colour and lightens the colour over all.

These scarves are very, very different; both are lovely in their own right and will be perfect for that casual look with a jean jacket or cotton blouse.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

It is amazing how different the two scarves look and feel. Both of the scarves are 2/8 hand dyed cotton warp with some 2/8 Orlec on the edges. The weft for both scarves was 2/8 Orlec in two different shades of blue.

The first scarf was woven with large lace blocks and the pale blue weft. The pale weft really disappears into the background of this scarf letting the variations of the warp to show off. I really like the look of Finnish Lace.

When I pulled the scarves off the loom I noticed that the darker scarf had quite a lot of texture. I really liked the feel of it but I wasn’t sure how the finishing was going to turn out.

After washing and a good hard press the pebbly texture hasn’t totally disappeared but it has been greatly reduced. The scarf was woven with small lace blocks and a darker blue weft.

These scarves have a fantastic drape to them. Using Orlec for the weft really lightened up the weight of the scarves. The Orlec also gives the scarves great shine. These scarves were really fun and quick to weave!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

I also did a set of hand dyed Blue cotton scarves. I used a large skein of hand dyed blue and the last bit of the skein of half navy/ half blue that Mum used for her scarves. I pulled the warp for the scarves in three sections because I was unsure if I would have enough of the hand dyed cotton.

Well my math was wrong and I came up short so I needed to add a couple of extra threads on the edges. I used Orlec in turquoise and a navy, I was able to use all the blue hand dyed cotton up and that was the point!

For the first scarf the weft is a pale blue/grey Orlec and the pattern is Finnish Lace. The blocks are large, about 1.5 inches. I have forgotten how much I liked this draft; I originally did this pattern as a table runner.

These scarves wove up really fast, the only photo I have of the second scarf is at the just off the loom one! The second scarf has smaller blocks and the weft is a darker blue Orlec.

I really enjoyed weaving these scarves. The planning of the warp was the hardest part to use up all the hand dyed blue cotton. I can't wait to see them finished!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

My Stash Busting scarves have finally been steam pressed and they look so much better for it! I love this photo! If you look very closely you can see the seed beads that I've added to the selvedge edges to give just a wee bit of shine. I wanted to keep these scarves very casual ~ perfect for jeans.

The first scarf I did had a lavender mercerized cotton as the weft and the turquoise and purple really pop!

The second scarf had pale blue weft and suddenly the stripes in the warp appeared!

How can something essentially the same, become so different?

These scarves are definately one of a kind and I hope they find a new home soon...
We've had a some amazing Spring weather lately and this is the photo of our cul-de-sac....I swear the mountains are moving closer by the day!

This is the Beaufort Range and it is across Comox Harbour on the mainland. The tree in the forefront is in our front garden.

Even though the snow is still pretty close to us, we've started our tomato and chili pepper crop. Here they are in the master ensuite....it has the most amazing light with two huge windows and a sky light...a perfect place for germination. Starting the seeds in the egg shells is really cute and environmentally very friendly. When the plants are ready for transplanting, we'll just crush the shells in our hands and pop them into the soil.